They are convenient, being in the very popular crayon form which is a big plus. They give a great amount of colour and a pretty shine but the best thing is they are very moisturising which is great for drier lips. The shine is not overpowering but enough to trick the eye into believing the lips are fuller. Great for lips that are getting thinner with age.

I’m also wearing Clarins Truly Waterproof Mascara. It’s black and creamy and is truly waterproof. I love it because it will hold your lashes in place all day after you have curled them. Awesome! It also comes in blue. Right on trend.

These are truly beautiful products that will carry you right through autumn and into winter.

I love the Radiance Bronzing Highlighter, it’s great for cheeks and eyes. It gives a lovely shine and warmth to your summer look and the Geranium BB Lips is an on-trend red/orange. It shouts summer. In the photo on the right I am wearing the bronzing highlighter on my cheeks and lids and the BB lips in Geranium on my lips. I also put a hint of the Geranium onto the apple of my cheeks for a little colour.

The nail collection is so pretty as well. I’m loving the pale yellow and muted orange. Perfect for summer. I would show you swatches, but my nails are in such bad condition I don’t want to compromise the lovely colours in any way!

Make sure you check this collection out and pick up a few items for your holiday.

Here is my original post…..

No7 have some wonderful sun care, makeup and skincare for this summer. In today’s post I am having a look at some of my favourites.

Suncreams, after sun care, beauty balms, and some truly bright and beautiful liners, blushes and lipsticks are just a few of my picks from the great products from No7 this summer.

*Anti-Ageing Shimmering Lip & Eye Screen SPF 30 (£7.50). A favourite is this Anti-Ageing Lip and Eye Screen. This is a very moisturising and light lip and lid balm that gives protection and the mearest hint of shimmer. It’s packaged just like a lipstick so super convenient. Very subtle and very elegant. I love it.

Another plus is the range is available in SPF 15 or 30 and the Anti-Dark Spot Facial Sun Protection comes in SPF 30 or 50 which is great. It’s 50 all the way for me!

I just have to mention about the Shimmering Lip and Lid Eye Screen again. So good!

No7 Primer

Next up is the *No7 Brilliantly Bare Beauty Enhancer (£12.50). I was a little unsure what this product would actually be, but was very pleased to see it is a primer for the skin. It is a colourless, lightweight formula that glides onto the skin. It leaves the skin feeling extra soft and very smooth, just like velvet. It reminds me very much of Benefit’s Porefessional but unlike Porefessional, this No7 product is colour free. As with all primers, Brilliantly Bare Beauty Enhancer will help keep your make up where you put it and not sliding down your face in the summer heat! This is definitely a must have product for summer if you like your make up to stay picture perfect all day. And there is nothing like the softness and smoothness that a really good priming product gives the skin. Bliss!

No7 Stay Precise Liquid Eyeliners

No7 Eyeliners

Now, onto my favourites things. Make up! No7 has some absolutely gorgeous colours and textures for summer. Starting with these eyeliners. Take a look at the colours. I absolutely adore Sky High and Mermaid. There are also a couple of metallic colours, the Metallic Royal (pictured) is a gorgeous navy blue. Any of these colours would be stunning for beach wear with a bright pop on the cheeks and a slick of coloured gloss on the lips. You would be so good to go. These must have *No7 Stay Precise Liquid Eyeliners (£7.50) come in 8 very wearable colours. (The golden brown and green would be perfect for the evening too!) These do not budge. Great staying power.

No7 Cream Eyeshadow

No7 Stay Perfect Smoothing Eyeshadow’s

I’m loving the *No7 Stay Perfect Smoothing Eyeshadow‘s (£8.00) too. They are convenient to pop in your bag, easy to use as they glide on and can be patted into place with your finger or a brush. And when they are dry they do not budge. The colour selection is lovely too. There are 6 colours. Pretty Pink, Pale Green and Iridescent Purple are so pretty and summery and the Nude, Bronze and Pewter Shine are simply the best for an easy, quick sexy, smoky evening eye. I really rate these as they are so simple to use, do not budge once set and have a gorgeous shimmery colour that is very attractive. Don’t miss out on them. They really are lovely.

No7 Mascara

No7 Lash Impact Mascara

Now where would a girl be without a fab mascara? I’m always on the look out for a mascara that is a really good black, a creamy consistency that glides on and does not clump. Clumping really annoys me. There is nothing worse than having to take the time to comb your lashes through after you have applied your mascara. *No7 Lash Impact Mascara (£10) has gone straight into my favourites drawer. It fulfils all the criteria. It’s black (it also comes in brown/black). It does not clump and it packs a lotta punch. I love it and have been wearing it non-stop since I got it. It has knocked Maybelline’s The Colossal of it’s perch as my favourite, go to mascara. Thats really saying something. Great mascara at a great price.

No7 Lip Gloss and Cream Blush

No7 High Shine Lip glosses

Finally lips and cheeks! Well, as mentioned above, for the beach or by the pool you need some bright colours on the cheeks and happy, shiny colour on the lips. No7 has these covered too….. The *No7 High Shine Lip glosses (£9.00) come in 15 attractive shades. And there are some real candy and neutral shades that have to go in you beach bag this summer. Pink Sherbet, Tangerine Twist and Almost Pink are my particular favourites. They are high shine indeed with a lovely flavour that reminds me of sweets. You can’t get much better than that!

No7 Pop & Glow Cream Blush

To match these lippies, No7 have their new No7 Pop & Glow Cream Blush Stick (£9.95). (I reviewed them here.) The easy to use and easy to carry blushes come in 3 colours, Rose Blossom, an icy pink; Mango Sorbet, a delicious orange and Classic Rose, a deeper pink. Again, just throw them in your bag and you are good to go. These blushes really are the essence of convenience but it is the colour and formulation that really makes my heart beat faster. As you can see the colours scream summer and co-ordinate beautifully with the high shine lipsticks. The sticks do glide easily onto the skin and and are perfect for building if you want more intense colour. I like the fact they are non-greasy. The remind me of a cream to powder product though this is not mentioned anywhere in the product description. I recommend!

So that’s my round up. All the products mentioned I have tried and can absolutely recommend. Summer is just around the corner so get yourself ready!

I’ve added some pics of looks I have done with the products. Hope they give you some inspiration. Enjoy!

I have wanted to do a post on reasonably priced make up for some time now. There has been an explosion of brands offering make up collections at a great price. Ideal for teens just starting to get into make up.

So I was really pleased when I received four exciting palettes to play with from Beauty UK Cosmetics*. I did manage my expectations however, I don’t expect to get highly pigmented shadows that last the day when I am paying £3.99 to £5.99 for a palette containing 6-10 shadows.

There was no need for managing however. I was seriously impressed with the colour payoff and longevity of these shadows. (Check out my looks below to see the shadows in action!) The acid test for me is would I actually buy these again myself? The answer here is yes. I haven’t tried any other products from the range, so can’t comment on the lip, cheek or base products. But based on my experience with the shadows I will definitely be purchasing some to try them out.

I can tell you now that you will be ‘borrowing’ these palettes from you daughter to do you smoky eye look for a night out…. oh and a pretty, natural day look at the office. The colours are on trend, come in a mixture of mattes and shimmer textures and are so flattering.

Eyeshadow Palette no1 Pastels £3.99

Eyeshadow and Eyeliner Palette in No2 Amazon £3.99

Eyeshadow Palette No5 Twilight £3.99

Posh Palette No3 Festival £5.99

Here are the looks I created. I particularly love the purple smoky eye using the Twilight palette and the warm day time smoky eye with the warm browns and a hint of cranberry (great for autumn/winter looks).

Great colours, great formula and great staying power.

I was not expecting to like these as much as I do. Having had fairly disappointing experience with the No7 Stay Perfect Amazing Eyes Pencil (the difficulty in getting any colour on the lid). I was fairly ambivalent.

Wow, was I in for a surprise! The colour just glides (as Boots promo bumf says) onto the skin and has great staying power. It comes in a range of 8 very pretty colours. I was fortunate to try 4; 2 darker and less shimmery colours (Deep Purple and Coffee Bean) and two lovely shimmery colours that I absolutely fell in love with. (Pink Pearl and Glistening Ray – great names!)

The brown and purple are perfect for a smoky or shaded eye. Applying and smudging with ease with just the tiniest hint of shimmer. Very attractive. Once set they do not budge until you remove them.

But I absolutely adore the pale shimmery pink and gold colours. They are perfect for spring and will be wonderful in summer when you have some colour to your skin. They are very shimmery and very pretty and flattering. I have been wearing all 4 for most of the past two weeks.

As above, I have been doing a smokey or shaded eye with the darker colours. The shimmery colours I have been using all over the lid to frame a lovely lashy look. See below for pictures. I highly recommend these pencils. I will be investing in the other 4 colours for sure.

(Click on the photos for larger views)

Kitten flick and pink lip!

Glistening Ray on the lids

Very subtle smoky eye with Deep Purple. The colour can be very easily built for greater impact

Gorgeous cheeks and luscious lashes. Mums, get ready for Spring and Summer with these lovelies.

No7 have released a pretty little selection of cream blush sticks for spring/summer that are just so easy to apply.

The colours available are *Rose Blossom, Mango Sorbet and Classic Rose. All are super wearable colours. Sweep gently onto the cheek for a ‘pop’ of colour or build for more intensity.

In the picture here I am wearing the Rose Blossom, which is a lovely iced pink, perfect for spring. Mango Sorbet and Classic Rose will be great for the summer when we have (hopefully) managed a bit of a tan.

Now, with the cheeks sorted it’s time to move onto the eyelashes. No7’s new *Lovely Lashes Mascara, a deep, deep black with conditioning Argan Oil. You can see from my picture that it gives a lovely thickness to the base of the lashes when worked into the lash line but still feathers beautifully without clumping. The Argan Oil nourishes and softens the lashes to help keep them in tip top condition apparently. Yeah!

I liked both products and can recommend. Priced at £9.95 each for the blushes and £12.95 for the mascara they are also affordably priced.

I know what I will be asking for on Mothers Day…

Clarins Opalescence Spring Make-Up Collection

Clarins Opalescence Spring Make-Up Collection

Isn’t it the perfect gift from your little ones, a gift to spoil Mummy? The spring Opalescence range from Clarins is beautiful. I would love to receive these, wrapped in homemade wrapping paper and with cards made by little hands that say ‘I love you Mummy’.

If you read this blog regularly, you will know that I share my love of make-up by giving you some tools and resources to get the most out of your beauty products. Make-up is so life enhancing and having the right products and know how means make-up can give you such self confidence. The confidence to know you look your best even when you have been up for three nights in a row with sick kids.

And it’s a good thing I have 3 children because I am coveting all the items in this range! I can have lipstick and creme blusher from one, Face and Blush Powder (so gorgeous) and lipgloss from another and the eye-shadow and mascara from my third. Perfect.

And perfect is how I would describe the range. The colours are fresh, sooo pretty and very flattering. Just right for putting the colour back into our sleep deprived cheeks.

And here I am. Ready for my Mothers’ Day Lunch and feeling very pretty with my gorgeous makeup!

The range makes such a lovely gift because not only is it luxurious to wear, but the items feel so great in the hand as well. The lipsticks and compacts are heavy and satisfying to hold and close with an expensive click. They are the sort of makeup pieces you will want to get out in public. Just to show them off!

Ombre Minérale Eye Quartet Palette and Instant Definition Mascara

The stand out piece is the Face and Blush Powder with its holographic lid. The design of the palette is just beautiful. I love a bit of astrology and the palette looks very astrological to me with its interlocking circles and smattering of gold. I would really be in two minds as to whether I could actually use it or just sit and admire its loveliness!

Start dropping those hints to hubby now! (Or maybe just forward him this post, it might be better!)

I love it!

See the Clarins Opalescence Spring Make-Up Collection on the Clarins site here.

Review: Boots No7 Stay Perfect Superlight Foundation*

I am fairly new to the whole foundation wearing on a regular basis thing. As a busy Mum it was one thing I could just not be bothered with. However, I do wear it every day now. The reason is that I wear sunscreen daily and I use the foundation to counteract the white cast my very high SPF sunscreen leaves. One pump of foundation into the sunscreen, mixed on the back of my hand applied with brush. Job done and no weird pale face.

My foundation of choice at the moment is No7 Lift and Luminate in Cool Ivory and I love it. When I saw No7 had just launched a new long wear foundation with the same colour spectrum I was intrigued.

First off one of the best things about buying a No7 foundation is the colour matching service. They use a funky little device to read your skin colour and then tell you which of the foundation colours will suit you best. It takes all of the horrible guess work out of choosing your foundation.

Secondly, the formulations are just so good. Natural looking and fine. Even looking in a magnifying mirror in daylight I cannot ‘see’ my Lift and Luminate sitting on the skin. (A trick I picked up from watching the wonderful makeup artist Lisa Eldridge’s tutorials.)

So down to the Boots No7 Stay Perfect Superlight Foundation.

I did not use any sunscreen for this test. Just the foundation. The product was easy to apply and gave very good coverage though you will still need to conceal noticeable imperfections. What it did wonderfully was even out my skin tone; as you can see in the before and after photos below. And the texture is lovely. It passed the magnifying mirror test with flying colours as well.

The foundation dried to a pleasant velvety finish but still had a tiny bit of luminosity. And did it last? You betcha. It did not budge my whole busy day. I had it on for 11 hours. I didn’t want to test the 24 hour claim as I don’t like sleeping in my makeup. So if you are after a foundation that is going to last from 6 in the morning until 11 at night without a touch up then this is the one.

I have very sensitive and extremely dry skin. This product did not irritate my skin in the slightest. I did know I was wearing it however. When the foundation had dried and set I could feel a certain ‘tightness’ on my skin.

Would I buy it? Yes, definitely. But it is not one I would wear daily because I could feel that tightness. Having said that I would love to hear from those with normal to oily skins who have tried this product to see if they experience this feeling. For me the foundation would be perfect for special occasions or for those days that I know I need a foundation that is going to last the distance without touching up. Or for hot climates actually, as I don’t think it would budge even then.

Just a note, the colour I am wearing in the photos has not been matched to my skin colour as it is a provided sample.

Boots No7 Stay Perfect Superlight Foundation is available through Boots and is £14.50 for 30ml.